High-Capacity Wide-Range Variable Rotational Rate Vane Testing Device

ABSTRACT

System and method for using an apparatus for measuring shear strength and viscosity of sediments that extend both the maximum rotational rate attainable and the maximum torque sustainable, and include a high data acquisition rate and data storage. The apparatus can accurately measure, for example, but not limited to, peak, evolution, and residual values of the undrained shear strength, yield, and viscous and plastic flow (including hardening and softening) characteristics of cohesive sediments at various pre-set and variable values of the rotational velocity of the vane sensor.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of pending U.S. patent application Ser.No. 13/106,166 entitled HIGH-CAPACITY WIDE-RANGE VARIABLE ROTATIONALRATE VANE TESTING DEVICE, filed on May 12, 2011, incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Devices and methods disclosed herein relate generally to testingdevices, and more specifically, to vane shear testing devices.

Vane shear testing devices are used in geotechnical engineering fordetermination of undrained shear strength, including undisturbed andremolded values. They are also used to study the effects of rotationalrate on strength and as a tool for measurement of viscosity and otherflow properties as a function of the rotational velocity or resultingstrain rate in a variety of materials and sediments. The vane sensor isone of the main sensor configurations used in commercial rheometryproducts, for example, but not limited to, R/S Soft Solids Tester byBROOKFIELD® Engineering. Existing vane shear testing devices can beused, for example, but not limited to, (a) as handheld devices for rapidin-situ determination of the undrained shear strength of mostlysurficial sediments in situ, and (b) in a bore-hole configuration interrestrial and marine environments, for example, in FUGRO® Seaclam andFUGRO® Halibut systems. Additionally, vane testing can be used in thelaboratory on sediment specimens retrieved in coring or drill cylinders.In this application, the sediment core is split either along its lengthor cut into several sub-sections normal to its long axis. Vane tests canbe performed on the exposed soil surface utilizing a variety of vanedevices. General engineering practice typically calls for testing forthe strength parameters (undrained shear strength, residual/remoldedstrength) at a rotation rate of 60-90 deg/min (ASTM Standard. (2005)).See “D4648 Standard Test Method for Laboratory Miniature Vane Shear Testfor Saturated Fine-Grained Clayey Soil.” ASTM International, WestConshohocken, Pa.

Rheometers are tools similar to vane shear devices (in certainconfigurations) and are used primarily in determining viscous parametersof fluids. Some rheometers, for example, R/S Soft Solids Tester byBROOKFIELD® Engineering, are adapted for testing viscous and yieldproperties of soft solids by utilizing a vane-shaped sensor. Theseinstruments, however, test materials that are not normally encounteredin natural environments, for example, materials that are typical togeotechnical investigations of either terrestrial or marine sediments.Thus, these instruments can be limited in rotational velocity andmaximum torque capacity. These limitations could make them insufficientfor certain types of geotechnical media and specific testing conditions.Further, devices characterized by variable rate torque application canbe limited by the maximum rotational velocity that can be attained andthe maximum torque that can be applied, limiting the use of thesedevices, especially for applications such as impact penetration andburial of objects in marine sediments.

What is needed is an apparatus for measuring shear strength andviscosity of sediments that extends both the maximum rotational rateattainable and the maximum torque sustainable, and includes a high dataacquisition rate and data storage.

SUMMARY

To address the above-stated needs, the present teachings provide anapparatus, method of making the apparatus, and method of using theapparatus for accurately measuring, for example, but not limited to,peak, evolution, and residual values of the undrained shear strength,yield, and viscous and plastic flow (including hardening and softening)characteristics of cohesive sediments at various pre-set and variablevalues of the rotational velocity of the vane sensor. The main purposeof the apparatus is to measure accurately undrained shear strength,yield, and viscous flow characteristics of cohesive sediments at variouspre-set values of the rotational velocity of the vane or other sensor.The purpose is to extend the measurement ranges for the combination oftorque and rotational velocity to beyond those achievable by any othercurrently existing research or commercial device available.

The apparatus is intended for direct measurements and constitutivecharacterization of a variety of cohesive sediments. The apparatusconsists of a base on which a vertical column is mounted. The verticalcolumn includes a linear track on which a carriage plate mounts,facilitating the mounting of the head assembly and allowing for an easyset-up and adjustment of the measurement head position. The headassembly consists of a drive motor, rotary torque sensor, and the vanesensor for insertion into the sediment sample. The carriage slides onthe vertical column linear track and is supported by a counter balanceassembly that uses a constant tension spring having a spring force equalto the weight of the carriage and head assembly. The counter balanceassembly allows the carriage to be easily adjusted vertically thusinserting the vane into the sediment sample with required accuracy inposition and minimal distortion of the sediment. The apparatusincorporates a clamping system to support a variety of standard sampletubes in which the sediment sample is contained. The motor is controlledby a computer program that includes high speed data acquisitioncapabilities to measure and record the torque produced by the vane as afunction of time.

The apparatus is capable of testing a wide range of materials, fromliquids, to semi-solids, and to solids of variable resistance toshearing, including, but not limited to, a wide variety of marinesediments. The apparatus is capable of testing at a high rotationalvelocity and acquiring data at a high rate. The apparatus is designed toreceive sensor attachments, for example, conventional attachmentsmanufactured by, for example, but not limited to, WYKEHAM FARRANCE™attachments (W sensors) and BROOKFIELD® Engineering attachments (Bsensors). The attachments can be coupled using, for example, adapters,and can include, for example, but not limited to, vanes, concentriccylinders, bobs, double-gap sensors, and cone and plate.

The apparatus for measuring characteristics of sediments can include,but is not limited to including a sensor drive shaft coupled to a one ofa variety of sensors, for measuring characteristics, a main measurementhead applying a rotation rate of up to 4000 rpm to the sensor driveshaft and determining an undrained shear strength up to 230 kPa, and acomputer, coupled to the main measurement head, collecting thecharacteristics while the rotation rate may be greater than 1200 rpm andthe undrained shear strength may be greater than 6 kPa.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram front and rear isometric views of anembodiment of the apparatus of the present teachings;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of elevation and plan views of anembodiment of the apparatus of the present teachings;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of exploded front and rear views of thecolumn assembly of an embodiment of the apparatus of the presentteachings; and

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the method of manufacture of the apparatus ofthe present teachings.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an alternate method of manufacture of theapparatus of the present teachings; and

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the method of use of the apparatus of thepresent teachings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The problems set forth above as well as further and other problems aresolved by the present teachings. These solutions and other advantagesare achieved by the various embodiments of the teachings describedherein below.

Referring now to FIGS. 1-3, apparatus 100 for measuring characteristicsof sediments can include, but is not limited to including, main tower109 attached to base plate 113, main measurement head 104 connected tomain tower 109 by constant load spring mechanism 107, for positioningmeasurement head 104, said main measurement head including a drivemotor, a load cell shaft coupled with drive motor 103 and a sensor driveshaft within a drive shaft housing 135 via a coupler 117, said load cellshaft including a load cell, a sensor 121 by attachment mechanism 115Bto the sensor drive shaft, and a vessel holding a sample, said sensormeasuring characteristics of the sample. Sensor 121 supplies themeasured characteristics to load cell 105, and load cell 105 suppliesthe measured characteristics to a computer. Apparatus can optionallyinclude an attachment holder coupled with attachment mechanism 115B,special connector 101 rotatably coupling the base plate 113 with themain tower 109, and screws 137 fixedly coupling base plate 113 with maintower 109. Sensor 121 can be, for example, but not limited to, W sensorsand B sensors. Main measurement head 104 can be configured to includetorque load cell 105.

Continuing to refer to FIGS. 1-3, apparatus 100 for conducting testingof undrained shear strength of water saturated cohesive sediments aswell as viscosity of a variety of soft solids and viscous fluids caninclude, but is not limited to including, main tower 109 attached tobase plate 113. Base plate 113 can be connected to main tower 109 by,for example, but not limited to, special connector 101 (FIG. 3) that canallow for main tower 109 to be rotated to achieve various orientationswith respect to mounting base 119. Base plate 113 and main tower 109 canbe, for example, fixed in position with screws 137. Main measurementhead 104, which includes main motor 103 and torque load cell 105, isconnected to main tower 109 by constant load spring mechanism 107,allowing for smooth and precise vertical sliding and positioning ofmeasurement head 104 at a desired height. Load cell shaft (not shown)inside torque load cell 105, is connected to drive motor 103 on the endnearest drive motor 103 and to a sensor drive shaft (not shown) locatedwithin housing 135, and attaches at one end to the load cell shaft viacoupler 117. Torque load cell 105 can be, but is not limited to being, aT8 ECO series contactless torque loadcell, manufactured by Interface Co.(www.interfaceforce.com). The output of torque load cell 105 is via a DCvoltage that can be acquired, recorded, and converted to engineeringunits via a calibration factor for torque. Torque load cell 105 can beconnected to a data acquisition card, for example, via a switchboard ina computer. For example, a National Instruments DAQCard-6036E, which hasa 16-bit signal resolution and can sample at 200 kHz, can be used.Coupler 117 can be, but is not limited to being, Elastomer Couplingmanufactured by R+W Co. (www.rw-america.com). Couple 117 can includemetal alloy housings with an elastomer inserts of various stiffnesses.These couplings can compensate for misalignment and vibration. Sensor121 is attached, in the case of W sensors, by attachment mechanism 115B.W sensors can be directly attached, whereas B sensors can be attached toattachment mechanism 115B by a separate attachment (holder). Shown inFIG. 1 is a W sensor being attached by attachment mechanism 115B. Toattach a B sensor, a coupler that fits over attachment mechanism 115B isused, making it possible to attach a variety of B sensors. Coupler 117appears on both sides of load cell 105. On one side, motor 103 iscoupled to the load cell shaft by coupler 117 to minimize off-axisforces of load cell 105 and an increase in torque measurement accuracy.Coupler 117 can be designed with elastomer inserts selected empiricallyto minimize off-axis forces. The attachment of sensor 121 to the sensordrive shaft (which is located inside housing 135) can be completed, forexample, by direct attachment, using a built-in coupler for use withsensors including, but not limited to, WYKEHAM FARRANCE™ vanes, or byusing an additional coupler that is attached to sensor drive shaft 115Band allows for mounting all sensors available from, for example, but notlimited to, BROOKFIELD® Engineering for the Soft Solids Tester andsimilar rheometers. The couplers securely fasten the vanes and othersensor attachments so that the sensor (or vane) will not disengage,decouple, or slip during testing.

To operate apparatus 100, a sample is fixed at the base of theinstrument via one of several available options (depending on the typeand the geometry of the sample). Appropriate vane (or other sensor) isattached to the matching coupler and then to the lower portion of theload cell shaft. The main measurement head with the motor, load cell,and the mounted vane (or other sensor) are then lowered into thespecimen to the desired depth and fixed in place by tightening thescrews on the slider part of the vertical tower assembly. At this stagethe device is ready for testing.

Testing can be conducted in a variety of ways, fully controlled via theLabView™ developed software package. This is generally (but not only)done under the conditions of the constant rotational velocity, set viathe software interface at the desired value and not to exceed 4000 rpm(the motor limit). As the motor-vane assembly is turning within thespecimen, load cell 105 is continuously measuring the torque. Dataacquisition software is monitoring, recording, and storing the measuredtorque, which is generated by the resistance of the material beingtested to movement of the sensor package (vane, bob, etc.). The dataacquisition software is also monitoring, recording, and storing themotor parameters, including current velocity, and position. From thesemeasurements, a variety of parameters of interest can be derived,including undrained shear strength, residual shear strength, viscosity,yield properties, and other as a function of time, current rotationalvelocity, or position of the sensor within the specimen.

Apparatus 100 can improve measurement capacities, including maximumtorque and maximum rotational velocity that can be achieved (seeTable 1) and can improve the ability to handle a variety of specimensizes and shapes, including traditional small specimens in boxes,beakers, core sub-sections, and similar vessels, fully split long corespositioned flat on the table (base plate), or full cores or longsections of cores attached to the main tower of the device when it isrotated to the full back position. This latter position allows fortesting at ends of long cores without sub-sampling or splitting andwithout changing the preferred vertical orientation of the core(sampling tube). Table 1 shows a comparison of device capacities of theapparatus of the present teachings compared to alternative devices.

Apparatus Perez- Biscontin of the Locat & Foguet et & Pestana presentDemers ′88 al. ′99 ′01 teachings Max rate, rpm 500; 1200 400 100 4000Max Su, kPa 0.4, 0.05 0.6 6 230

Referring now to FIG. 4, method 450 for manufacturing an apparatus formeasuring characteristics of sediments can include, but is not limitedto including, the steps of attaching 451 main tower 109 to base plate113, connecting 453 main measurement head 104 to main tower 109 byconstant load spring mechanism 107, connecting 455 load cell shaftinside load cell 105 in main measurement head 104 to drive motor 103 atdrive end 105A and to attachment end 105B via coupler 117, and attaching457 sensor 121 to load cell shaft by attachment mechanism 115B. Optionalsteps can include attaching W sensors directly to attachment mechanism115B, attaching B sensors to attachment mechanism 115B using a couplercovering attachment mechanism 115B, selecting the sensors from a groupconsisting of WYKEHAM FARRANCE™ vanes and BROOKFIELD® Engineeringrheometers, connecting base plate 113 rotatably to main tower 109,fixing base plate 113 and main tower 109 in position with screws 137,and configuring main measurement head 104 with main motor 103 and torqueload cell 105.

Referring now to FIG. 5, alternative method 500 for manufacturing anapparatus for measuring characteristics of sediments can include, but isnot limited to including, the steps of rotatably 501 coupling tower 109having proximal end 125 and opposing distal end 127, having at least onebearing guide 126 extending from proximal end 125 to distal end 127 andbase plate 113 assembly, with mounting plate 119, coupling 503measurement head 104 having motor 103 and torque load cell 105 withtower 109 at proximal end 125 using a connecting mechanism, motor 103having a motor drive shaft, coupling 505 measurement head 104 with atleast one bearing guide 126 and locking screw 114, coupling 507 a loadcell drive shaft with the motor drive shaft and with a sensor driveshaft via couplers 117, and coupling 509 a sensor with the sensor driveshaft. Optional steps can include fixing base plate 113 in place withscrews 137, mounting height-adjustable specimen holder 133 on tower 109,and mounting girth-adjustable specimen holder 133 on tower 109. Theconnecting mechanism can be a spring mechanism, and the spring mechanismcan be constant load. The couplers can be flexible.

Referring now to FIG. 6, method 550 for using an apparatus for measuringcharacteristics of materials can include, but is not limited toincluding the steps of fixing 551 a sample at the base of the apparatus,the apparatus including main tower 109 attached to base plate 113, amain measurement head 104 connected to the main tower 109 by a constantload spring mechanism 107, the main measurement head including a drivemotor, a load cell shaft coupled with drive motor 103 and a sensor driveshaft within a drive shaft housing 135 via a coupler 117, the load cellshaft including a load cell, a sensor 121 configured to attach byattachment mechanism 115B to the sensor drive shaft, a vessel holding asample, the sensor configured to measure characteristics of the sampleand the motor, the sensor configured to supply the measuredcharacteristics to the load cell, the load cell configured to supply themeasured characteristics to a computer, attaching 553 the sensor to theattachment mechanism and the load cell shaft, lowering 555 the mainmeasurement head having the motor, the load cell, and the attachedsensor into a specimen to a pre-selected depth, fixing 557 the mainmeasurement head in place by tightening screws on a slider part of themain tower, setting 559 a rotational velocity, monitoring, recording,and storing 561 characteristics of the material and the motor sensed bythe load cell, and deriving 563 undrained shear strength, residual shearstrength, viscosity, and yield properties as a function of time and thecharacteristics. The characteristics can include, but are not limited toincluding, torque generated by the resistance of the material tomovement of the sensor, motor current velocity, motor position, andmotor torque.

Apparatus 100 has, in comparison to existing technology, high torquecapacity, high velocity, digitally controlled and monitored motor, highprecision, infinite-rotation load-cell for accurate torque measurementsat variety of speeds, load-compensated sliding head lift mechanism foreasier and more precise placement of the sensor (vane) in the testingmedium, rotating design for the main assembly tower, allowing fortesting of small core sub-section and other specimens in smallcontainers, full spit cores, and long upright positioned cores withoutsub-sectioning (main tower in rotated back position), high speed dataacquisition and control system and software written using, for example,but not limited to, a LABVIEW® package, and the ability to acceptdifferent sensors, for example, but not limited to, via two speciallydesigned couples, including standard WYKEHAM FARRANCE™ vanes, andsensors supplied by BROOKFIELD® Engineering R/S Soft Solids Tester(vane, concentric cylinder, cup and plate, etc.). Apparatus 100 caninclude, but is not limited to including, National InstrumentsDAQCard-6036 E (having 16-bit resolution, 200 kHz acquisition rate) andNational Instruments LabView software. The commercial software isaugmented by acquisition software in which data are acquired at amaximum rate of, for example, 200 kHz, and conditioned and time-averagedto manage natural fluctuations and noise. The acquisition software canincrease data accuracy by filtering out or smoothing out the electricalnoise. For example, using a moving average of 20 would yieldapproximately 0.42 data points per degree rotation at a maximum angularvelocity of 4000 rpm. This corresponds to approximately a 2.4° rotationper measurement. In this example, the frequency of measurements issufficient for accurate results in geologic materials. Apparatus 100 canalso store the acquired and filtered/conditioned data on conventionalmass storage devices (not shown).

The present embodiment is directed, in part, to software foraccomplishing the methods discussed herein, and computer readable mediastoring software for accomplishing these methods. The various modulesdescribed herein can be accomplished on the same CPU, or can beaccomplished on different computers. In compliance with the statute, thepresent embodiment has been described in language more or less specificas to structural and methodical features. It is to be understood,however, that the present embodiment is not limited to the specificfeatures shown and described, since the means herein disclosed comprisepreferred forms of putting the present embodiment into effect.

Referring again primarily to FIG. 6, method 550 can be, in whole or inpart, implemented electronically. Signals representing actions taken byelements of apparatus 100 (FIG. 1) and other disclosed embodiments cantravel over at least one live communications network. Control and datainformation can be electronically executed and stored on at least onecomputer-readable medium. Components of the apparatus can be implementedto execute on at least one computer node in at least one livecommunications network. Common forms of a computer-readable medium caninclude, for example, but not be limited to, a floppy disk, a flexibledisk, a hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, acompact disk read only memory or any other optical medium, punchedcards, paper tape, or any other physical medium with patterns of holes,a random access memory, a programmable read only memory, and erasableprogrammable read only memory (EPROM), a Flash EPROM, or any othermemory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer canread. Further, the computer readable medium can contain graphs in anyform including, but not limited to, Graphic Interchange Format (GIF),Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), Portable Network Graphics(PNG), Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), and Tagged Image File Format(TIFF).

Although the present teachings have been described with respect tovarious embodiments, it should be realized these teachings are alsocapable of a wide variety of further and other embodiments.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent ofthe United States is:
 1. A method for using an apparatus for measuringcharacteristics comprising: fixing a specimen proximal to the apparatus,the apparatus including (1) a main tower attached to a base plate, (2) amain measurement head connected to the main tower by a spring mechanism,the main measurement head including a drive motor, (3) a load cell shaftcoupled with the drive motor, the load cell shaft including a load cell,and (4) a sensor drive shaft including an attached sensor, the sensordrive shaft coupled with the load cell; lowering the main measurementhead into the specimen; fixing the main measurement head in place;setting a rotational velocity; and measuring, with the sensor, thecharacteristics of the specimen and the motor.
 2. The method as in claim1 further comprising: providing the measured characteristics to the loadcell, the load cell providing the measured characteristics to acomputer.
 3. The method as in claim 1 wherein the characteristicscomprise torque generated by the resistance of the specimen to movementof the sensor, motor current velocity, motor position, and motor torque.4. The method as in claim 1 further comprising: lowering the mainmeasurement head into the specimen to a pre-selected depth
 5. The methodas in claim 1 further comprising: providing the specimen in a vessel. 6.The method as in claim 1 wherein the spring mechanism is constant load.7. The method as in claim 1 further comprising: fixing the mainmeasurement head in place by tightening screws on a slider part of themain tower.
 8. The method as in claim 1 further comprising: monitoring,recording, and storing the characteristics.
 9. The method as in claim 1further comprising: deriving undrained shear strength, residual shearstrength, viscosity, and yield properties as a function of time and thecharacteristics.
 10. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:selecting the sensor from a group consisting of WYKEHAM FARRANCE™ vanesand BROOKFIELD® Engineering rheometers.
 11. The method as in claim 1further comprising: mounting a height-adjustable specimen holder on themain tower.
 12. The method as in claim 1 further comprising: mounting agirth-adjustable specimen holder on the main tower.
 13. The method as inclaim 1 wherein the main measurement head comprises a torque load cell.14. The method as in claim 9 further comprising: applying, by the mainmeasurement head, a rotation rate of up to about 4000 rpm to the sensordrive shaft.
 15. The method as in claim 15 further comprising: couplinga computer to the main measurement head, the computer collecting thecharacteristics while the rotation rate is greater than about 1200 rpm.16. The method as in claim 15 further comprising: collecting thecharacteristics by the computer while the undrained sheer strength isgreater than about 6 kPa.
 17. A system for using an apparatus formeasuring characteristics comprising: means for fixing a specimenproximal to the apparatus, the apparatus including (1) a main towerattached to a base plate, (2) a main measurement head connected to themain tower by a spring mechanism, the main measurement head including adrive motor, (3) a load cell shaft coupled with the drive motor, theload cell shaft including a load cell, and (4) a sensor drive shaftincluding an attached sensor, the sensor drive shaft coupled with theload cell; means for lowering the main measurement head into thespecimen; means for fixing the main measurement head in place; and meansfor setting a rotational velocity, wherein the sensor measures thecharacteristics of the specimen and the motor, the sensor provides themeasured characteristics to the load cell, and the load cell providesthe measured characteristics to a computer.
 18. The system as in claim18 further comprising: means for lowering the main measurement head intothe specimen to a pre-selected depth; means for fixing the mainmeasurement head in place; means for monitoring, recording, and storingthe characteristics.
 19. The system as in claim 1 further comprising:means for deriving undrained shear strength, residual shear strength,viscosity, and yield properties as a function of time and thecharacteristics.
 20. The method as in claim 19 wherein the mainmeasurement head applies a rotation rate of up to about 4000 rpm to thesensor drive shaft, a computer coupled to the main measurement headcollects the characteristics while the rotation rate is greater thanabout 1200 rpm, and the computer collects the characteristics while theundrained sheer strength is greater than about 6 kPa.